When you tell someone that they shouldn’t be afraid of something your words usually don't do anything to comfort them right away. Think back to when you were a small child and your parents told you not to be afraid of the dark because there was simply nothing to be afraid of. Did you stay scared that night after they told you there was nothing to be scared about? Probably spent the next hour searching with your eyes for unknown monsters behind every bookcase and within every shadow. It’s a simple fact of life that telling someone there’s nothing to be afraid of is a useless proposition.

How then should I go about killing the fear of the auction house within many of you? If I say there’s nothing to be afraid of then you will probably go on continuing to avoid the auction house while ignoring my posts on the subject.

Let Experience Trump Your Fear

Experience removes fear. You are terrified while riding a bicycle because you don’t know if you’ll fall or not. Once you gain confidence and get through those first couple of falls you will no longer be scared (hopefully) of riding your bike. Same goes for the auction house: you will fall and screw up your auctions or make poor decisions only to get back up and try again until your experiences remove your fear.

Think back to your parents telling you that there was nothing to be scared of while you tried to go to sleep at night. You were probably terrified until you realized that nothing was going to happen because you experienced nights where monsters did not come out from the shadows to get you. Experience wins over fear eventually.

Your First Auction House Experience

Start off small. Take the items you currently possess and identify what they are used for. Next, look at the auction house and determine if it’s worth your while to sell these items for a nice profit. Post your auctions and go back to playing as you normally would. I promise there’s nothing to be afraid of. Your auctions may even sell and make you some gold, but either way you’re going to be building experiences which lead to real auctioneering success in world of warcraft.

That’s all there is to it. I’m not telling you to take any big leaps of faith in addons like auctioneer or anything like that. I’m asking you start just as I did: curious, skeptical and a little afraid. Better to get rid of the jitters now versus waiting until cataclysm when things really get hectic!

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comments: on "The Auction House is a Monster in Your Room at Night"

How many people who read a gold making blog are afraid of the auction house? Maybe more than I'd think.

Fear isn't really the emotion that comes to mind when I think of the AH, now it is resignation. It was exciting to me at first to read about money making strats on the AH, but the truth of it is that without a 10K initial investment, 3 or 4 max level crafters and 6 hours a day of time, there's no return to be had.

Ok, I believe you. What was your initial investment, and how many max level crafters are you using here?

I'm not trying to be a smartass, I'm looking for ways to have some fun playing AH adventure without having to start with a huge amount of cash and time. I don't have an alt with his own guild and 6 bank tabs, you know?